Whole Wide World (song) explained

Whole Wide World
Cover:	Whole Wide World.jpg
Caption:	1977 UK issue
Type:	single
Artist:	Wreckless Eric
Album:	Wreckless Eric
B-Side:	Semaphore Signals
Recorded:	1977
Label:	Stiff
Next Title:	Reconnez Cherie
Next Year:	1978

"Whole Wide World" is a song written by English rock singer-songwriter Wreckless Eric, who wrote the song in May 1974,^[1] and recorded it in 1977, whilst an original member of the Stiff Records label. Additional musicians on the record were Nick Lowe on guitar and bass, and Steve Goulding on drums.

The song was never a chart hit single for Eric, though it subsequently became his best-known recording. The only charted versions of "Whole Wide World" are a cover by the Australian band Mental As Anything, who took it to No. 53 on the Australian singles chart in 1995, and another by American alternative rock band Cage the Elephant, who took it to No. 11 on the Billboard Alternative Songs chart in 2017.

Sung by Wreckless Eric

• 1977 on the compilation album A Bunch of Stiff Records^[2]
• 1978 on the self-titled Wreckless Eric album, track 6^[3]
• 1979 on That Summer film soundtrack
• 1979 on the compilation album The Whole Wide World, track 1^[4]
• 1980 on Big Smash! album, side 3, track 1 (double LP) or CD 2, track 1 (2-CD set)^[5]
• 2001 on Greatest Stiffs album, track 1^[6]
• 2002 on the Me Without You soundtrack, track 14^[7]
• 2006 on Stranger than Fiction soundtrack, track 3^[8]
• 2006 on "Whole Wide World 4 England" single, track 1^[9]

Covers by other artists

• 1977: Elvis Costello and the Attractions on the Stiffs Live Tour. Wreckless Eric later said, "I wasn't a fan of Elvis Costello, particularly."^[10]
• 1978: Italian female pop singer Anna Oxa, on her album Oxanna. Italian translation, titled "Un cielo a metà"
• 1978: Finnish rock band Eppu Normaali had the song translated to Finnish ("Nuori Poika", meaning Young Boy) as a B-side of their single "Jee Jee"
• 1987: The Monkees on their Pool It! reunion album^[11]
• 1988: Dogs on their A Million Ways of Killing Time album,^[12] and on their live album Fast & Tight (2001)^[13]
• 1991: Die Toten Hosen on Learning English, Lesson One; vocals by Eric Goulden
• 1995: Mental As Anything on their album Liar Liar Pants on Fire^[14] and as a single
• 1996: The Lightning Seeds as the b-side of their single "Ready or Not".
• 2007: The Proclaimers on the Life with You album^[15]
• 2009: Bahamas on his album Pink Strat^[16]
• 2015: Pangs on debut single b/w "Already Dead"^[17]
• 2017: Cage the Elephant covered the song for their album Unpeeled^[18]
• 2018: Berhana as a single.^[19]
• 2020: Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong covered the song for Amazon Music's Amazon Original series, then later re-posted the cover to Green Day's YouTube channel as part of his "No Fun Mondays" cover series. Wreckless Eric himself gave his approval of the cover in a statement, referring to Armstrong's rendition as "the most punk rock version ever."^[20]

References

Specific references:General references:

• Book: Roberts , David . British Hit Singles & Albums. 2006 . London. 19th . Guinness World Records Limited . 611. 1-904994-10-5.

External links

• Whole Wide World YouTube

Notes and References

1. Web site: Same . 3 December 2007 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20071205174037/http://www.wrecklesseric.com/whole_wide_world.htm . 5 December 2007 .
2. Web site: A Bunch of Stiff Records – Various Artists | Songs, Reviews, Credits. AllMusic. 3 August 2019.
3. Web site: Wreckless Eric – Wreckless Eric | Songs, Reviews, Credits. AllMusic. 3 August 2019.
4. Web site: Untitled Document . www.wrecklesseric.com . 17 January 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20080108105042/http://www.wrecklesseric.com/albums.htm . 8 January 2008 . dead.
5. Web site: Big Smash! – Wreckless Eric | Songs, Reviews, Credits. AllMusic. 3 August 2019.
6. Web site: Wreckless Eric – Greatest Stiffs . Amazon.com . 13 October 2016.
7. Whole Wide World – Wreckless Eric
8. Web site: Various Artists – Music From The Motion Picture Stranger Than Fiction . Amazon.com . 13 October 2016.
9. Web site: Wreckless Eric – Whole Wide World 4 England . Amazon.com . 13 October 2016.
10. Web site: Wake . Matt . Wreckless Eric: Before Huntsville show, British singer talks iconic single 'Whole Wide World,' Southern music he related to . al.com . 6 November 2014 . 6 May 2020.
11. marrrthew, posted 11 November 2007
12. Web site: A Million Ways of Killing Time by Dogs. Rateyourmusic.com. 3 August 2019.
13. Web site: Short, Fast & Tight by Dogs. Music.apple.com. September 2001. 3 August 2019.
14. Web site: Liar Liar Pants on Fire – Mental as Anything | Songs, Reviews, Credits. AllMusic. 3 August 2019.
15. Web site: Amazon.com. Amazon. 24 April 2021.
16. Web site: Pink Strat – Bahamas | Songs, Reviews, Credits. AllMusic. 3 August 2019.
17. Web site: Listen: Pangs – Whole Wide World . PileRats.com . 18 September 2015.
18. Web site: Unpeeled – Cage the Elephant | Songs, Reviews, Credits. AllMusic. 3 August 2019.
19. Web site: 2018-03-27. Berhana Drops Breezy New Single "Whole Wide World". 2021-04-12. HYPEBEAST.
20. Hear Billie Joe Armstrong Cover Wreckless Eric's 'Whole Wide World'. Rolling Stone. 4 September 2020. 8 September 2020.